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Rainforest still exists in just 10% of Madagascar. People cut down trees to produce charcoal or for firewood either to use or sell. The attendant loss of forest soil cover is also a critical issue as the soil is not easily replaced naturally and its erosion results in siltation of lakes and rivers in the watershed area. Madagascar still has a great many species endemic to their island but their habitat is under assault notably in the Atsinanana rainforest region. Scores of species, many unique to this part of the world, have become extinct already or are currently endangered. This Earth cannot afford to have its biodiversity torpedoed endlessly. We must respect and appreciate the far-reaching negative impacts and consequences of doing so. A vital effort to halt further deforestation and loss of habitat was supposedly ongoing in Madagascar. The country has lost about 90% of their forests to poachers, illegal and commercial logging. Yet still, valuable, precious and dwindling stocks of trees such as rosewood are being harvested relentlessly to gain some extra cash for short term spending. Many species are moving upslope to cooler, more virgin territory as a consequence of loss of habitat and global warming. We suggest that tourism is more important to their economy than perceived gains due to numbskulls who clear, cut or burn forest so they can sell more wood or charcoal. 

Densely populated areas like Antananarivo are very polluted from discharge of raw sewage into water, and sanitation is a big issue, teetering on becoming a monstrous issue. We think that even though Madagascar is vast compared to many other countries, they should make a concerted effort to reduce their population growth to much less than 3% per year. We strongly recommend they follow a course of development like Gabon and the Congo's because Madagascar is a large, strategically and ecologically very important nation. We do not think natural resources such as coal, chromite or tar sands are worth developing. Hopefully, as an alternative for industrial development, more money can be put into green, renewable energy sources. Having hydropower already for two-thirds of electricity production provides a promising foundation. Property proximate to the ocean in cities such as Toamasina face the ongoing prospect of being decimated by extreme weather events including numerous punishing cyclones, storm and even tidal surges.

Authorities have become aware of the practice of reckless dumping of dangerous industrial chemicals, pesticides and residues including spent charcoal dust into waterways. The charcoal business is a cancer that is hard to stop the spread of. Tanzania apparently has legions of small-scale miners trying to extract minerals using mercury at great personal risk. They also have many large mining operations. Mining is a loosely-regulated industry here and there are questions arising about where toxic waste being generated is ending up. Especially in and near Dar es Salaam, some vegetables are appearing that are contaminated with heavy metals. Acid mine drainage and uncontrolled releases of volatile organic compounds and other industrial effluents are often discharged directly into waterways.

Added to this list of contaminants are various agricultural chemicals. Tanzania has also put an end to mumblings from one-off, thin-film polyethylene bag salesmen: They have outlawed their non-biodegradable product and along with it goes the cadmium and other noxious metal and petrochemical content included in the manufacturing make-up of such bags. Not only the people, but also organisms in the near-shore marine environment are being threatened by pollution, rising acidity and warming. Clean water and adequate sanitation do not yet exist for about one-third of rural Tanzanians and as such, water-born diseases of various kinds remain a threat for millions of people.

As a foreboding indicator, the "snows of Kilimanjaro" retained on the mountain year over year as ice or snow have declined by some three-quarters versus times past. Some two-thirds of Tanzania is now dry land. Rainforest remains in only about 2% of Tanzania. Over the past generation, Tanzania lost an average 1% of its forested areas per year. So a huge reforestation effort lays ahead. Happily, it has already begun in earnest. 

Tanzania is starting to use sweet sorghum stalks to produce ethanol via fermentation and distillation. Hopefully this can help replace high-sulphur fuel grades. Tobacco farmers in Tanzania are bailing out of that rotten business in large numbers and substituting other much more promising crops like seeds, nuts and fruit trees. Increasingly, carbon-rich kerosene, charcoal, leaves and paraffin use in the home is being replaced by the promise of the sun including solar panels, stand-alone solar cookers, stoves and lights. There are also full-blown solar power system kits to run appliances, hot water heaters, mobile phones and more. This is a transition to get fired-up about, and the faster it can take-hold the better off we are all going to be.

In Mozambique, unconstrained deforestation also fuels a charcoal subsistence economy. This country is also victimized by the spread of barren, unproductive land. Mozambique may in future run into serious problems trying to feed its population as the productivity of several existing staple food crops is expected to decline as temperatures overall continue to rise. Mozambique should become serious about hissing and dissing tobacco plots and plantations such as has occurred in Tanzania to a significant degree already. On the exciting news front, that's exactly what has been happening: old tobacco plantations are being replaced with jatropha shrubs that grow even on marginal land and produce oil for biodiesel fuel.

In fact, large parts of sub-Sahara Africa could be affected negatively by the current widespread reliance on climate-sensitive maize. Rainfall in East Africa has been declining by about 15% per generation for quite some time now and this trend is expected to continue or worsen as the planet heats up. Ominously, the temperature in highland areas has risen at a rate of about 0.1 degrees Celsius per decade for at least two generations. Many diseases such as malaria and cholera spread as more frequent heavy rainfall and flash flooding muddy waters. If already present, malaria-parasite ridden mosquitoes tend to multiply in hot, humid settings. Further, the threat of global sea level increases, storm surges, flooding and heat waves finds Dar-es-Salaam and Maputo in precarious positions and vulnerable to further contamination of water supply. Apparently undaunted by the ecological chaos arising from their charcoal economy, they're now fast-developing a coal industry mostly aimed at export markets in Asia.

Zambia has been encountering problems from mining-related effluent such as acid rain and acid mine drainage. Zambia has pockets of extreme soil contamination from cadmium, zinc and especially lead which is present in people's blood way beyond safe levels, for example, in Kabwe.

Zimbabwe has serious problems from mining waste, pesticides and raw sewage that ends up in waters such as the Manyame River. Zimbabwe is under pressure from ongoing threats of further deforestation, from food, water and power shortages and from spread of disease, in particular, cholera. One-quarter of forested areas have been lost in only one generation of time. Zimbabwe has been trying to encourage widespread cultivation of the jatropha weed shrub as a biofuel and fertilizer since it does not compete with food crops for arable land and may be inter-planted with other crops and in quite arid areas. Unfortunately, their is pressure to regress to further use of coal power. As we've tried to do using a megaphone here, coal is NOT cheap once you factor in payments made sooner or later for societal costs. The world will find a way to punish polluters regardless of whether Zimbabwe does or not. It's coming. So never mind how hard it is; you're better off as a country to stick with hydropower and develop solar, wind, biofuel and geothermal sources of energy.

In Philippines, as sewage and the remains of decayed and degraded coral reefs spread, beach sand is becoming more gray than white, not so pretty a picture. Some offshore environments have had water temperatures that are unbearably warm for coral reefs, threatening their survival in the intermediate term. The Meycauayan-Marilao River system is very polluted due to domestic waste loads and proliferation of manufacturing activity within easy reach of a river dump. Illegal small-time miners often dump waste directly into waterways. There has been high levels of mercury affecting the fishery and shellfish. The Pasig River is nearly dead ecologically due mostly to industrial effluent, unchecked residential garbage and sewage influx from the greater Manila area. A toxic, lifeless dark gray mud and ooze spreads. The Guadalupe and Butuanon Rivers have been declared biologically-dead for a generation. Belatedly, moves are afoot to attempt a  rehabilitation. The hideous practice of getting rid of even toxic industrial and/or agricultural waste by adding it to fertilizer "hit the fan" with government officials during 2010. Changes are coming affecting river clean-up and agricultural practices but, unfortunately, heavy ecological, human health and wellness costs have already been endured.

Philippines is one of the most vulnerable large countries on Earth to inundation and chaos arising either from global-warming-induced transgression of the ocean or from tsunami. There are millions of people at risk of flooding in the greater Manila area alone. So Filipinos are very much in need of natural defenses and barriers such as mangrove ecosystems. Regrettably, Philippines have only about one-quarter of their mangrove forests and swamps left. Nearly one in six bird species indigenous to Philippines are endangered due mainly to loss of habitat such as wetlands. This critical habitat also serves as rest stops and feeding places for countless migratory bird species en route to faraway places although their numbers have been plummeting over the years as land use is altered and habitat eliminated by various developers and landowners.

We think 50% Filipino population growth in less than 20 years is way too much. Philippines now has a population density of over 2000 people per square kilometer. We don't mince words about it. We believe ecological survivability of the Earth without extreme poverty or various health and wellness afflictions is around 4.8 billion people. Yet, we already have a total population of about 6.7 billion, and its expected to mushroom further to some nine billion by mid-century. People collectively now consume one-quarter more resources per person than the Earth can support, recoup or replace. We're saying there should be an average maximum of about 300 people per square kilometer of arable land. Holding the economic development variable constant for the purposes of this thought experiment, we think people population pressure crowds out other species as ecosystems are encroached on, developed, polluted or harvested for resources. Something has to be done to curtail the excessive rate of forest loss they have experienced.

Philippines relies on coal for about 22% of their electricity generation. They hope to cut that amount back to 10% to 15% of the power grid before 2015 as alternative energy sources become more prevalent. Philippines may be lauded for already having around 18% of their power needs including over one-quarter of electricity generation coming from geothermal sources, and they are pressing for more, to double gigawatt capacity from renewable sources by 2020. Philippines is also the largest seaweed farmer and processor which produces ethanol. However, they have made little progress in harnessing wind and solar power potential that exists in their country. Permitting an unabated coal-driven power plant in Iloilo strikes us as bizarre, especially so given that this City has experienced first-hand the major havoc deliverable by typhoons.

In most Philippine cities, progress is too slow reclaiming the atmosphere for people to breathe safely. Especially troubling is the plague of particulates lingering above congested areas. There are several green alternatives: force those junky jeepneys, tricycles, buses and tractor-trailers off the roads forever-more, convert them to natural gas or replace them with hybrid gas-electric, fuel cell, biodiesel or electric vehicles. Force installation of particulate filters on petroleum diesel fuelled vehicles and launch a staircase of energy efficiency improvements to play out over time. People can ride bicycles here and there ten to one hundred times further and more often than they are doing now. Happily, lithium-ion battery powered tricycles and e-bikes have arrived and are now displacing petroleum-fired tricycles, junky mopeds and scooters.

However, on the water front, the breaking point has apparently been reached in the minds of a number of officials. Several provinces of Philippines have already imposed moratoriums on mining or, at least, a ban on open-pit mining. Why? In short, the ecological risks and impacts from such industrial activity to water, soil, food and life for a population-dense country of some 100 million people are deemed to be too great to bear.

Thailand aims to increase renewable energy sourced electricity generation markedly before 2020. The emphasis in Thailand is also on educating the public to conserve energy and cut back consumption. Hopefully in the short term, that will save Thailand about one-fifth of its energy use. Pollution levels per person in Thailand are high compared to many neighboring countries. They have designed a good starting point for a pollution tax lately. However, it so far does not include among its pollutants either carbon dioxide or black carbon. Rather, it encompasses oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and dust tonnages vented into the air. Wastewater discharges are also penalized by weight of the content of suspended junk material or biochemical oxygen demand. Unfortunately, many people habitually dump their untreated wastewater directly into waterways. This practice has bio-accumulated to the point where rivers including the Chao Phya, Bang Pakong and many more are scheduled to be cleaned-up. This is good news because the moral majority of Thai citizens care about the natural environment they live in and many tourists are becoming "turned off" by it.

The air of Chiang Mai and other cities in northern Thailand are so fouled with smoke and exhaust it fails to clear. Government have resorted to trying to geo-engineer raining in the north of the country to force cleansing of the shroud of pollution. There exists a plague of respiratory illnesses from smog caused in large part by wide-scale agricultural burning activity. Smoke also drifts in to Hat Yai and other centers in Thailand from Indonesia. Air quality in congested areas including Bangkok is very iffy due to elevated levels of submicron-sized particulates and noxious pollutants notably from old diesel and two-stroke engines.

The polluted rivers list is too long including Yom, Nan, Chao Phraya, Tha Chin and more. Industrial sources have been discharging toxins into rivers and the air illegally. For example, those living in proximity to heavily industrialized areas, namely Map Ta Phut, the incidence of cancer has been found to be abnormally high, and this sadly has been the case for too many people in Rayong. Air pollution includes sickening levels of volatile organic compounds such as benzene plus heavy metal particles. This mayhem will be cleaned-up according to the government which we accept will happen if not only to keep the plentiful numbers of tourists coming. However, progress on this front is not marked if foul levels of petrochemicals like benzene are still being measured in the air even in Bangkok.

The availability of 20% ethanol gasoline blends and 5% biofuel content in diesel helps in principle but only assuming the net carbon impact is positive after consideration of related deforestation. Unfortunately, recent evidence is calling into question the wisdom of clearing anything other than marginal land where cellulosic ethanol sources may be planted. Otherwise, there is no net gain for the environment in terms of net carbon emissions. And many more people are going hungry in the world as a consequence of fuel crops displacing food crops on various agricultural lands contributing to food inflation as a result of incrementally reduced supply.

Proliferation of palm oil plantations to produce biodiesel and pollution emanating from shrimp ponds are affecting mangrove swamps. It is estimated up to half of Thailand's mangroves are gone already, resulting in reductions in the prevalence of species native to mangrove ecosystems and serious erosion of coastal areas. An estimated one-third of coral reefs in the Andaman Sea have been lost over the past generation as algae detaches from host reefs due to the combined impact of increased sea temperature and acidity. Along with the loss of biodiversity and more tourism revenue goes the first natural line of defense from storm surge and the inexorable rise in global sea level.

Authorities in Thailand are forecasting a rise of sea level affecting them of about one-third of a meter before 2020, a rate that translates to three to four meters per century if it were to continue on that way. To multiply the threat, for more than a generation, abnormally-heavy monsoon rains have been observed. If the cause is climate change as is increasingly being suspected, the associated risks are apparently ones Thai people will have to adapt to. Bangkok is generally only about a meter or two above sea level and is subsiding at an average rate of about one-fifth of a meter per year. However, subsidence is not a linear process so, ceteris paribus, there is no reason to expect the rate of subsidence to remain nearly constant. Yikes! To us, Bangkok rates as one of the most vulnerable cities on Earth to global climate disruption. Belatedly, some Thai people have become wary and are frantically trying to restore lost wetlands before their situation versus nature deteriorates the next leg down.

Brunei's timber areas, peat bogs and other wetlands generally have been well-managed, preserved and reforested. However, open burning persists partly due to lax enforcement of environmental offences. The country is still almost entirely-dependent on oil and gas extraction, refining and processing industries for both domestic energy and export earnings. Brunei is belatedly turning to solar photovoltaic power to help the country get-off using noxious fuels such as diesel sooner rather than later.

For all these countries, we have some advice: Don't despair because you know of those who may have succeeded in the oil business in North Africa and the Middle East yet your family remains very poor: Now there is "Desertec", a proposal of the German Aerospace Center for generating and transmitting solar power into Europe from North Africa. The solar power cat is out of the bag now but still has to watch out for the odd fossil fuel attack dog. We hope the solar power drive will spread solar thermal throughout the Sahara, Mojave, Gobi, Badain Jaran, Kalahari, Atacama, Simpson, Garagum, Great Thar and Arabian deserts, too. We call it "Desert Sun". So reopen and expand your salt mines young man for, quite suddenly, a mixture of various nitrates including sodium and potassium nitrates and heat are among your most prized assets! But the sun sets so is an intermittent power source. Therefore, the plan is to deploy tanks of molten salts like liquid sodium and potassium nitrate to store heat at night for perhaps several hours before the energy is utilized to generate steam, drive turbines, generate and transmit electricity over large distances. Furthermore, that molten salt may prove to be the breakthrough ionic fluid medium that can more efficiently produce cellulosic source material into ethanol, leaving a much reduced waste stream in the process. Concentrating solar thermal uses equipment like turbines, water and other fluid pipes, transmission lines, parabolic mirrors and other mirrors and lenses. Air-cooled mirrors are plausible if use of water becomes difficult. Further, waste heat from concentrated solar thermal power generation can be utilized to desalinate marine water locally. Despite the wind and dust, concentrating solar energy infrastructure utilizing mirrors focusing on photovoltaic panels is also possible in these settings. Algeria has commenced solar thermal projects already which is a hopeful sign. Good luck Boughzoul, the first low-carbon city planned for Algeria. We want to visit there!

Israel aims by 2020 to have 10% or more of electrical energy use from their grid come from alternatives to fossil fuels. Use of solar power is already widespread in Israel, especially for local water-heating applications. Development of highly-efficient solar dishes to capture concentrated photovoltaic energy is very promising. Israel now has plans to utilize solar power to supplant some fossil fuel use. A feed-in tariff structure has been introduced to promote small-scale solar panel installations. However, two-thirds of Israel's electricity is still produced by coal-fired facilities. There has also been a problem with too much ground level ozone in more congested areas, especially in larger centers like Tel Aviv.

Israel could become the first country to have large numbers of electric cars on the road. Numerous charging stations have already been built and many more are planned. However, to the extent the electric grid is fossil-fuel driven, the release of emissions will merely be passed up the line.

Waterways in all these countries may as well have been open sewers for mining, metallurgical, chemical and other old industries spewing noxious smoke, effluents and other waste. Acid rain, toxic tailings and acid mine drainage issues have not been resolved. Air pollution is bad in many cities and industrial areas like Bratislava, Slovakia and Koper, Slovenia. A good start would be to drive-down-and-out coal, particularly the soft (subbituminous) coal and brown coal (lignite) industry. Plan a future with a more diversified and sustainable economy; lighten-up on the shopworn, polluting, extractive and refining segments. Force the tempo by setting ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets. Don't worry about rankling Joe Smoe, the CEO who runs an old company that couldn't or didn't do the research and development they should have done.

Iraq and Jordan remain all almost-entirely dependent on fossil fuels for energy. So this is not a pretty situation especially given other stressors such as chronic water shortages. There exists too many diesel generators and too much flaring of associated gas in Iraq. Worse still is the ramping-up of carbon-intense heavy oil production. Curtailing such activities is an easy way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions totals and increase ecological responsibility and survivability. Jordan has been aiming at having its carbon-intensive, kerosene-laden oil shale deposits developed. This is not a good idea. Amman's air quality is already poor and a wholesale reliance on fossil fuels is mostly to blame. We wish Jordan and Iraq would join with North African countries here in the rush to develop solar energy, bumping reliance on petroleum out. Belatedly, Jordan is aiming by 2020 for a 10% contribution from renewable energy at least for its electric grid power.

In Greece, electricity generation is still half-dependent on lowly lignite coal. Moreover, Greece interests are responsible for about-half of global emissions from commercial shipping. This dreadful legacy of lignite coal, diesel and bunker fuel dependency, and the associated ongoing-toll of truly-ugly emissions, has to be cleaned-up in an accelerated timeframe.  It's just like Uncle Kenny said, some day soon we have to get organized.

Greece needs a very-busy-beaver-like transition to much greater use of renewable energy. Angling to power their grid-electricity 20% from renewable energy sources by 2020, up from nearly 10% now,  is a weak objective especially given that Greece is such a high-potential market for wind and solar power applications. Dump nurturing the old business segments. Escalate solar power generation, smarten and expand transmission grid capacity and attract eco-tourism. Don't be sidetracked off this plan of action by gray bank adviser types. Most of them have little appreciation or understanding of science, research and development, clean technology, green chemistry, analytics, modelling or climate change (that is, the "hard" stuff at school, remember?).

A city such as Thessaloniki, Greece is prime territory for capitalizing on renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal or wave power. So far, however, we cannot paint too pretty a picture, here. Mass transit is poorly developed, a major contributing factor to the crush of vehicles clogging many streets. The air has been badly-polluted with things like nickel, cadmium, arsenic, pesticide residues and a lot more. A similar story exists in Athens where centuries of junky coal burning has speckled the atmosphere with brown, gray, grayish-brown, brownish-black and black carbon particles, too. Greece also appears to be in a bit of a time warp in that they still send so much salvageable waste to massive, slowly-decomposing landfill sites instead of recycling and re-using it.

Ireland has a low-ball introductory rate carbon tax on fuel demand. They are targeting about 10% of all fuel burned to come from clean, renewable sources by 2020. They currently derive about one-sixth of their power needs from renewable energy, in particular, from wind turbines. The government wants to ramp that share up to 40% of grid-electricity by 2020.

In Ireland, we are sure they know the drill by now - less crowing and more rowing in less polluted rivers. In particular, more action geared towards less run-off of waste from agricultural lands would be a happy consequence of "greening". Because agriculture is big in Ireland, biomass operations of various sorts are likely to be developed such as methane capture from processing livestock ends. Localized use of biodigesters should also become widespread.

We think Ireland has the setting and mindset to quickly become a green financial services center. Your typical graying bank has too many weirdo-competitor-type employees getting in the way of change or infringing on others because they are incapable of originating much themselves. In Ireland, they do not have that rather-pervasive phenomenon to weigh them down. To us, this spells opportunity because they're working from a clean slate, in an uncluttered environment, and within the Euro zone. Once the powers-that-be recognize the light is green, it's time to move it with clean, green investments and growth, the transition could happen very fast because the potential is there. Embrace change, don't try to hide from it. Ultimately, there's nowhere to hide from Mother Nature, and, in our humble opinion, she's a green investor.

The needle on renewable sources of energy has not budged much in Luxembourg. Their per capita carbon footprint has historically been among the highest anywhere. San Marino's agricultural activities contribute significant per capita emissions of heat-trapping gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxide.

St. Lucia has a dreadful near-complete dependence on foreign oil and diesel-fuel generators. This pathetic situation exists despite considerable, untapped geothermal, solar, wind and biomass energy potential. St. Lucia and Grenada, too should stop listening to eco-risk-taking fossil fuel madcaps pushing high-carbon, syrupy stuff like charcoal, oil, etc. Wondering how to make more foreign exchange off bananas? Start banana briquette businesses to help fuel your own economic future and reduce emissions, too! Then trumpet your progress to the world and tourists will adore you for it.

Trinidad and Tobago greenhouse gas emissions are way too high on a per capita basis from sources including oil refining, liquefied gas, petrochemicals, cement, construction and of course, shipping, air travel and other modes of transportation. So we would not want to see rubber tire burning, too. They need to act swiftly to transform their economy or ecological survivability will be heading downwards from where they are now. Water supply is also unreliable.

Some three-quarters of land in The Bahamas is at an elevation less than two meters above sea level so the risk of inundation is worrisome here given their location and vulnerability to extreme weather events, in particular, storm surge. Amazingly, they continue to commission more power plants that run on horrendous, murky bunker fuel. Rather, they need to ramp up broad utilization of renewable energy to reduce dependence on burning fossil fuels, in particular, the molasses-style stuff. Domestic production of biodiesel constitutes a starting point. 

Jamaica's emissions have been somewhat high on a per capita basis relative to other island economies and deforestation has run amok. So far, Jamaica has only about 10% of electricity arising from renewable energy sources. This amount will likely increase markedly in the years to come with the advent of wind power farms, waste-to-energy plants and biodiesel projects. We strongly suggest Jamaican industry not use coal anymore to fuel their operations. Furthermore, poorly-treated sewage, industrial waste discharges and vehicle emissions have been weighing the country down. Nitrate contamination of water has been significant. So now is the time to stage an ecological turnaround domestically. Waterfront, beaches, coral reefs and the fishery have been degraded significantly over the years due to the global phenomena of marine beach erosion, salt incursion, overfishing and increased ocean acidity.

Antigua and Barbuda is mostly low lying limestone terrain. Deforestation has occurred to the point where fresh water retention near and at the surface has become an issue. Offshore there are lots of coral reef ecosystems that have been deteriorating in a worrisome way. Historically, carbon intensity has been relatively high here so more efficient work and a general cleaning-up of combustibles is needed. Simply aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020 is insufficiently-ambitious.

About two-thirds of Sri Lanka's electric grid is set to be powered by heavy oil or coal. They should get off the heavy, fossil fuel wagon, and send that fossilized wagon out-of-town on the not-so-happy trails of a sunset business segment. If metaphors don't sink in, maybe this declaration will: Heavy oil and coal are murky, carbon-intensive junk fuels; quit burning them!

Sri Lanka have various problems with industrial effluents, sewage and groundwater contamination. Kidney ailments have become widespread. Dengue and rat fever, hepatitis and more abound near various garbage dumps. In Sedawatte near Colombo, a public hygiene disaster scene hangs like an albatross around the necks of residents.

Sri Lanka has left only about one-sixth of its primeval forest cover. This situation alone makes drought, dessication and dry spells more likely; global warming adds to that risk. Being insular, any reduced level of outlet river-flow power will be met by the counteracting power of global sea level rise. Unfortunately, one carries fresh water, the other, salt water.

On the bright side, over 100,000 home-based solar systems have already been put in place throughout Sri Lanka. And counting. Renewable energy sources comprise only about 4% of energy use, however, they aim for a 10% share by 2017. There is also tremendous wind power potential on the island.

Any scheme to convert lignite coal to urea fertilizer on a large scale these days is a bad one - it will result in outsize amounts of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and nitrogen-runoff pollution. At first we thought New Zealand's farm story might be one for kiddies comic books or Uncle John's Bathroom Readers' Institute™ but we have changed our minds. Farm animals worldwide originate almost one-fifth of atmospheric greenhouse gases. New Zealand has some 50 million herd animals raised for meat, wool and dairy products and about half of its greenhouse gas emissions stem from agricultural sources. There is about ten sheep per person living in this country. In the aggregate, that amounts to gale force breathing, belching, bloating and flatulence of methane and nitrous oxide, both of which are much more potent heat-trapping gases than carbon dioxide. Not to mention what emanates from the animal urine and excrement into the air including outsize amounts of ammonia nitrogen.

Crushed coriander seeds, turmeric, cumin, urea-molasses mineral blends, fish oil, canola oil and/or cottonseed oil given as dietary supplements to ruminant livestock including cows, goats and sheep have all been shown to significantly reduce the amount of out-gassing of this blue air. Cloves and cinnamon may also help. Adding seaweed, flaxseeds, linseed, alfalfa or certain grasses to ruminant animal feed reduces belching. Nitrous oxide, contained in chemical fertilizers often used to increase the yield of primary crops like sugar cane, rice, wheat or maize, emanates from the soil into the atmosphere where it becomes a potent heat-trapping gas. Unfortunately, this agricultural complex along with the proliferation of vehicles means rainfall may be laced with unpleasant and corrosive, degrading or debilitating concentrations of nitric acid. Time to put a price on this problem. Nature does not grant exemptions or special privileges to favored sectors or particular economic actors.

Furthermore, when various farm and ranch waste nutrients and agricultural chemicals end up downstream at the coast, the result in certain areas is the serious problem of oxygen-depleted dead zones. Many fish and shellfish cannot survive in marine water with minimal oxygen. Hold on, though, there could be a happy ending here. There may be a jim dandy of a scheme to promote growth of easily-digestible seaweed to feed ruminants as a staple of their diet so they produce less methane. Greater proliferation of seaweed on the continental shelf area would also help to incrementally-reduce oceanic dead zones because seaweed naturally absorbs nitrogen and phosphorous as nutrients. What's more, New Zealand has progressed to become a net re-forester again so we are guardedly hopeful conservation and restoration of the natural balance that sustains all life is truly on the up-and-up here again.

El Salvador, Honduras: These settings are vulnerable to extreme weather events. To worsen the impact of such events, there is far too much deforestation, soil contamination and and erosion arising from stripping, clearing, hacking, slashing, burning, plundering and/or mismanagement of natural resources, agricultural lands and protective ecosystems. Various waterways are very polluted. They are late and slow to launch into serious action developing the considerable renewable energy resource potential they have. Hint: foreign tourists like this stuff, too; it's not just for the long term benefit, health and wellness of your citizens.

The new mathematics comes with this theorem: If you cheat the environment, you cheat all life forms in that environment (including yourself). The corollary is many more tourists come to visit a pristine environment including a lovely littoral and near shore environment. Why would one try to reconnect with nature somewhere that has been suffering rapid deforestation? In El Salvador, less than 5% of historic forested areas remain standing. No way that's going to work! Sugar cane and cotton plantations are being fingered for reckless land use clearing and degradation. There's been overuse of agricultural chemicals and open burning of fields with environmental impacts accumulating for two generations or more. One more blow to their empire - El Salvadorans still rely overwhelmingly on fossil fuels to satisfy energy demands.

In Tajikistan, about one-third of glacier ice and dense snowpack has been liquefied in less time than anyone waits to see their grandchildren. Across this region of Central Asia, we've had receding glaciers, reduced rainfall and erratic rainfall patterns so consequently there is sun-baked and dried soil. The Aral Sea has less than one-tenth the surface area and a tiny fraction of the water volume it had less than two generations ago. Incessant withdrawals of water for agricultural purposes in the watershed juxtapose with a tired ole Mother Nature who cannot replenish at the pace requested. Demand having exceeded supply for so long that we now have a borderline ecological disaster area, a sand sea complete with ships and boats that we assume were not able to navigate on sand.

Too much fertilizer, pesticide and salt have burnt the landscape in Uzbekistan contributing to desertification and deterioration of soil and vegetation. Old world industrial pollution adds to their earthly woes.

Kyrgyzstan has already lost more than half its native forests and more than half of its mountain glaciers. Those fresh water stores have been vanishing without being replenished at a net rate of loss of more than 10% per generation for more than half a century. Near total reliance on hydropower to drive an aging electric grid is clearly a big challenge here. Historically, this country has been a significant source of mercury mines. Before long, they may be the only country left still hawking the stuff to unrepentant miners and others, too. Mining asbestos also badly needs to be on the way out. Those involved in such less-than-zero-sum-games need to be held to account for other individuals' aggregate ecological survivability, health and wellness which are being grotesquely violated. Forget the apparent gain evident in narrow-minded gray bank statements of personal debits and credits of the perpetrators. The many victims here of such actions have rights, too. Kyrgyzstan also has many historic radioactive sites throughout the country. Rivers and aquifers near such sites are generally contaminated, for example, the Mailuu-Suu River. Further, chemical contamination has inadvertently been redistributed widely into the soil by the wind and overuse of pesticides when farming.

At the beginning of the millennium, Argentina was approaching being half-and-half dependent on fossil fuel and hydropower sources for electricity generation, with a smattering of nuclear energy. However, there existed the long-term problem of relying too much on hydropower as the massive Cuyo ice sheets of western Argentina have been melting at unprecedented rates. So far, Argentina has filled in the shortfall in hydropower output with more fossil fuel driven grid-energy. Ten years on in 2011, they have become nearly one half-dependent on natural gas and about one-third more on oil to drive their electrical needs. Looking forward, they are aiming for a greater contribution from nuclear energy which would help decrease fossil fuel projects, in particular, the heavy stuff. Recent cuts to subsidies for electricity should add pressure to reduce use of fossil fuels and may prompt some utilities to accelerate their deployment of alternative energy.

Natural gas is generally viewed as a bridge fuel to the future whereupon electric, fuel cell and hybrid cars, trucks and buses are expected to be in widespread use around the world. Already, there are lots of vehicles on the streets running on compressed natural gas which is a marked improvement over petroleum-based diesel, petrol and gasoline. This means leaving oil shale where it belongs - in the ground. In the new millennium, we see only negative net present value for oil shale projects. Time to move on past trying to crush, flush and otherwise process rocks to extract heavy hydrocarbons.

Unfortunately, Argentina is also set to augment coal power to nearly 5% of their requirements in an age where people are trying to rid the coal monkey from their backs. Gearing up coal use in Argentina will produce liquid waste often containing contaminants including but not limited to chromium, ammonia, arsenic, aluminum, barium and mercury. Coal ash and solid waste here is apt to have radioactive elements like uranium and thorium. There also exists a troublesome situation environmentally in Rosario. The concentration of pollutants from industrial effluent, metals, chemicals and pesticides discharged or swept into waterways has reached a level such that much water there is not safe to drink.

We now know that methane concentrations in the atmosphere have increased globally since sometime during 2006. This news is very unwelcome and potentially alarming as methane is about 23 times as powerful a heat-trapping gas as carbon dioxide. Further, so far scientists do not appear to have a comprehensive answer as to why methane is again on the increase. The problem in Argentina is that somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of Argentina's total greenhouse gas emissions come from methane produced by livestock, especially cows. Argentina has about 50 million grazing ungulates and is a huge beef producer. Their cattle eat a lot of grass but that diet, as do the usual other cow diets observed across many countries, unfortunately generates a huge amount of methane belching. Further, there exists high levels of  nitrous oxide originating from their extensive farmland areas, to the point where the surrounding air may become hazy and humidity and rainfall may be laced with corrosive concentrations of nitric acid. Excessive ammonia nitrogen arises from animal waste and other garbage. Arsenic in the soil in some regions presents another environmental challenge, affecting water quality, health and wellness.

Unfortunately, rampant desertification now affects more than half the land area of Argentina. To curtail further dryness and parching of land, to enhance cleansing of the air and retention of groundwater, a sweeping "take back our Earth" program is required. Trees and other vegetation are sentries for water. As such, highly-recommended actions should encompass vigorous reforestation of too-many deforested areas, afforestation of marginal agricultural lands and re-populating of productive agricultural land with tree breaks. Without swift and decisive moves to reverse net deforestation of nearly one million hectares a year, Argentina could become a barren landscape within a generation. Along with outsize tree losses, entire ecosystems have already been rendered null and void meaning all species unique to those ecosystems have been terminated.

Argentina is mandating a very modest 8% share for renewable energy sources before 2016, however, they have recently introduced wind and solar energy subsidies which should help speed up the switchover to clean and green. Diesel fuel sold must be 10% biodiesel content by 2011. These initiatives are a start including their pioneering of significant soy-based biodiesel production for domestic and export markets. We are skeptical that far-reaching expanses of soybean crops are the answer to our collective fossil fuel woes. Once the indirect ecological impacts from a "wild-west" kind of land clearing and use are included, gains from relying on soy-based biodiesel pale versus other possible alternative fuels of the future.

On January 12, 2010 this country became more like a living nightmare of a prison in a scurrilous geo-horror movie than a nation state. Destitute Haitians were eating mud pies before this happened. Countless Haitians so very clearly remain truly up against it, the odds are stacked too high against them. There are far too many people living there, stuck there, than the country can physically support anytime soon without flirtation with the next disaster scene such as cholera spreading to nearly one million people. So let's end this nightmare for them by ferrying millions of Haitians out to other countries temporarily or permanently before serious sickness and disease spread further, people wither and collapse. Or a follow-on earthquake erupts along the same fault or with an epicenter in adjacent faults where severe stresses are likely to be ratcheting-up further with every passing moment. Surely, the 193 or so other independent states of this Earth can invite every anxious, suffering, despairing Haitian into their midst and care for them, help them adjust, give them hope in life and relief from chaos, indignity, risk, pain, sickness, trauma, stress, fatigue, you name it.

Historically, deforestation has been out of control in Haiti. Today, only about 3% of forest cover remains. 3%! Couple that with hurricanes, other storm or tidal surges and perhaps heavy rainfall and we have a big problem. In Haiti, upland soil erosion and mass wasting flows have been ravaging consequences of deforestation. Gonaives has been swamped with mud too many times. Also we have problematic water pollution but air quality is generally much better than that of many countries. Let's face it - the atmosphere constitutes the upper hemisphere of our life-space. And tourists want to breathe clean air so Haiti is in good shape in this respect. The other big promise that can work in their favor in future is the advent of renewable energy. Haiti could "go to town" on their solar energy potential but they need more help to get going locally. 

Within a generation, Colombia's glaciers are likely to have melted completely. Along with it, most of their alpine grasslands are expected to capitulate due to lack of water. Colombia also has significant uncontrolled deforestation and land-clearing including that done by drug dregs planting coca shrubs in remote areas including national parks. They also have vast, open-pit coal mines, and are a top-ten exporter of coal. Way-too-much coal is shipped to Asia including China. Coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla are on the front lines facing global sea level escalation. The progression goes like this: First we have historic, coastal mangrove forests that act as natural buffers against storm activity and encroaching seas. As the pressure from transgression increases relentlessly, the forests capitulate increasingly to a salt marsh environment, then a kind of soupy swampland. Finally, draining of the bog area cannot keep pace and inundation occurs. Permanent flooding has claimed more coastal area angering titleholders who lose their property to the ocean. In aggregate terms, tourists are not all that impressed by this sequence of events either as word gets around about lost beaches, foreshore area and so on. 

Ecuador appears to be first to recognize in legal terms the rights ecosystems, including all organisms, have to exist and evolve without being assaulted by undue external forces, namely people and organizations. We like this development as it makes it much easier for the general public to take legal action against polluters so a judicial remedy is more easily and quickly available if politicians, governments and regulators fail to provide the necessary environmental protection. Unfortunately, Ecuador has been guilty of having one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. It has also had serious problems with industrial polluters, in particular, those that have caused water pollution, soil contamination and calamity for animal and plant life over a broad region as a result of careless oil and gas production activities in the Amazon. The wisdom of developing, and extent to which Ecuador can successfully develop, hydropower remain open questions.

Peru is doing relatively well on the deforestation front - they have the fourth largest tropical rainforest on Earth and about 60% of the original rainforest area is still there. Peru could conceivably achieve zero net deforestation by 2020 which is very promising if it holds true. However, Peru and Ecuador have prepared or started-in on opening up elephantine areas in the Amazon for oil and gas exploration and development. This is potentially a double whammy. One for the associated deforestation; we will also be in-line for the burning of more fossil fuels if hydrocarbon production proceeds here. Further, various indigenous hunting and gathering tribes in the Amazon are being threatened and squeezed out by voracious resource developers. Peru has been getting help regarding exactly how to regulate and manage the trade-off involved with further resource development. Peru now has "ecological police" that conduct raids on homes, businesses and plants regarding harboring of mine tailings and other hazardous materials.

Peru has only just begun the transition to wind, solar and biomass energy to help power its electric grid. Fear is likely a prominent factor that finally is driving change here: In Peru, one quarter of their Andean glaciers have melted in less than a generation. Some say it's conceivable all Andean glaciers will be gone by 2023. Peru's carbon emissions are not problematic, at least not yet, as hydropower accounts for more than three-quarters of electricity-generating capacity. Hydropower production though is clearly a function of the volume of rainfall and glacier melt water available over time. Unfortunately, both sources are in decline at a time when population and industrial demands continue to rise. Andean mine operators, prodigious users of water in their mineral production and metal processing activities, are now sufficiently desperate for more water that they desalinate ocean water and pipe it far inland for use, a highly-inefficient practice. The environmental risks and reality of acid mine drainage into Peru's precious supplies of water are a problem, and potentially a huge problem. There are sorry instances of way-too-highly-concentrated levels of copper, lead, zinc and arsenic in soil, water, air, vegetation, animals and yes, people too, such as exists at the seriously-contaminated mining outpost of La Oroya. There also exists uncontrolled mercury pollution in the country from a wide range of gold miners and oro shops.

Peru should have well-developed mass transit by now to reduce transportation-related pollution. Lima has high levels of particulates, dust and sulfates lingering in the air as polluted, dry-desert like conditions prevail.

In Yemen and Somalia there is widespread use of, interest in, and economic dependence on opium or qat. Especially in Somalia, there has also been much civil disobedience, clan rivalry, war-lording, violence and corruption that complicates and delays problem resolution. Institutions are often lacking.

Yemen has legions of dilapidated vehicles that still fill up with leaded gasoline. The people of overpopulated Yemen generally do not know if its better to remain inland and face food and water-borne illnesses and insecticide pollution, or to head towards the coast and risk contact with vector-borne disease such as malaria. Organ failure is rife from contaminants and disease. Medically, kidney ailments are worsened by lack of water. The water table of Sanaa cannot replenish, in fact, its been dropping by up to 20 meters a year. So the city has little prospect of being able to meet the ongoing demands of its escalating population. Average life expectancy for all these countries is somewhere in the range of 45 to 60 years. Fresh water and arable land is also scarce in Djibouti. The ecology prevailing here cannot support the existing population.

In Eritrea, deforestation, desertification and soil erosion is serious. As the specter of climate alteration unfolds and heat and water stresses are insidiously and relentlessly ratcheted up, the pastoralist way of life is increasingly coming under assault ecologically. In response, shepherds move their herds here and there ever-faster in search of viable water, shade and grazing areas.

Industrial corridors in Mexico are responsible for strafing local populations with hideous levels of noxious chemicals such as benzene and carbon disulfide and particulates such as cement dust. There exists an epidemic of plastic water bottles, often petroleum-based plastic that has as a constituent polyethylene terephthalate. Also, Mexico still has some heavy oil production and it remains a profligate gas flarer in association with various oil production facilities. The need for green cement and chemical manufacturing processes is huge. There has been a high incidence of manganism in the populations nearest manganese mining operations in Hidalgo state.

Water pollution is widespread from pesticides, sewage, arsenic and industrial waste. There are shortages of drinking water. Air pollution can degenerate into a suffocating quagmire in densely-populated, traffic-congested urban areas of Mexico such as Mexico City and Ciudad Juarez. In Mexico City, not long ago there was an unhealthy level of ozone in the air more frequently than four out of every five days. The sky was often blanketed by a sickly yellow haze. According to scientific research, over time, chronic air pollution is affects the sense of smell for people who live there as a consequence of pollution-driven deterioration of the victims' olfactory sensory receptors, respiratory tracts, capillaries and air sacs. However, air quality is much improved in Mexico City relative to its nadir a few years ago. Mexico City now has a great new green plan that includes dedicated bus lanes, bicycle ways, solar panel deployments, rooftop gardens and more. Recycling is finally starting to take hold.

In historical context, Mexico is markedly more aggressive lately in solving their ecological challenges. Beyond efforts to slow deforestation, they are planning to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by converting coal and oil-fired power plants to natural gas and forcing old diesel-burning trucks, buses and other jalopies off the streets. Across Mexico, the aim now is to generate one-quarter of all electricity from renewable sources before 2013. Mexico now has only about 2% of electric power being contributed from wind turbines but they are aiming to ramp that amount up. Wind power installations are being constructed in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec at the rate of approximately one gigawatt of added capacity per year. And, of course, that blazing sunshine can generate a lot more than tourism.

Mexico has huge natural potential in many renewable energy resources. Plans are being accelerated in Mexico to make biodiesel fuel from widespread cultivation of varieties of the jatropha plant. Oil derived from jatropha shrubs can be blended in jet fuel for much cleaner burning. In addition, agave plants, which thrive in arid and semi-arid conditions, are a promising potential source for ethanol.

Due to the challenging ecological circumstances in Mexico, aiming for fast reductions in greenhouse gas emissions before 2025 would involve a phenomenal turnaround to a once-sorry situation. Their commitments so far have included being 8% below 2009 levels by 2012 which represents an important inflection point, to be 30% below their 2000 absolute emissions levels by 2020 and 50% below that benchmark before 2050. This is significant progress and a welcome, happy surprise. Tourists generally are turned-off by pollution; it's not just the eco-tourist segment who are sickened and disgusted by it. We believe Mexico understood this earlier than most jurisdictions which has helped drive decisive action on their environmental front.

However, various new medium-scale hydropower facilities along major rivers should increasingly transition this ugly shade-of-gray power to a greener one. Roughly the same share is expected to comes from nuclear power plants before 2030. South Korea is very big in chemicals, automobiles, shipbuilding and steel production. No surprise then that it comes in as the ninth or tenth largest source for greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Worse yet, being an energy intensive economy, the likelihood of their appreciably-reducing the absolute level of heat-trapping pollutants before 2020 appears low, witness their very weak objective for this interval, to limit same to a rise of no more than 8% relative to that of 2005. Being 30% below previously expected 2020 levels of emissions by 2020 is insufficient.   

Over the longer term, however, we are more hopeful. Very significant green stimulus measures should put more mustard on the transition away from grubby, carbon-rich fossil fuels. Their short term plan now involves utilizing 2% of their gross domestic product to spur investment in renewable energy and technologies including wind, solar, fuel cells and bio-fuels. They have a feed-in tariff system implemented to facilitate and encourage change. Strong growth in the application of solar photovoltaics, new age batteries and light-emitting diodes is anticipated for South Korea. They are a global leader in implementation of smart grid technologies. South Korea already generates electricity from tidal power. Significant capacity from bringing offshore wind turbines on-grid is anticipated by 2020. Clean energy sources must drive nearly 5% of their power grid by 2015 and 10% of it before 2022. Planned offshore wind power projects alone could achieve this goal. The transition to green power appears to be happening faster than pretty well anywhere else among countries comparable in size to their economy. We, however, do not embrace their "green" plans to burn more wood which generates too much black carbon and other noxious pollutants. Just because your lighting some kind of biomass does not mean its a "clean, green" undertaking.

South Korea has also come up with tough new fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and small trucks to be implemented in 2012 over a four year period. Many petroleum-based diesel-powered vehicles have been deleted in Seoul lately especially in favor of compressed natural gas. This has already resulted in a drop of about 10% in the concentration of fine particulate air pollution. South Korea is also vulnerable to yellow dust storms and pollution lingering in the air. Much of this dust contains tiny particles of lead, cadmium, aluminum and copper and originates from northern China and Mongolian mining areas.